December Kill of the Month

A while ago I made a post about defeating an Arbitrator with one of my Breachers, well this wa sback in December and this solo kill was my entry into the Tuskers monthly solo kill contest.

I was delighted to find out that I was voted the winner against some tough competition. The normal prize is a faction frigate of choice, but as it was Christmas, Decembers award came with some bonus prize options.

The prizes which I selected from a generous list were:

• Caldari Navy Hookbill hull, I have fitted this one ready for battle but have yet to undock it.

• Cruor hull, Although I can fly this one I do not yet have lasers trained at all, I still have the Slicer I won ages ago sat packaged in my hangar for this same reason.

• Cynabal hull, I don't have Gallente Cruiser trained at all at the moment so will be adding this skill to the to-do list for this year.

First Day Back

So this evening upon getting home from work I got my home pc and laptop setup to play eve. After that was done I was left with only 90 minutes to play spaceships. Less time than I would like, but that frequently tends to be the case!

So I log back in and am in Adirain. Sat in station in my Breacher (of doom!), I have three other ships in station. All BC's which is odd as I normally only keep one in Adirain along with a Rifter & Cruiser. I notice I need a clone upgrade and decide to do that later.

Local is busy but everyone is docked in station with me. I decide now is a good time to move my prober back to low-sec from Villore. Before my absence I made the mistake of allowing my sisters combat probes to time out in space and had needed to buy more.

Villore being next to Old Man Star I jumped in. Now being I a Covops I expected to be safe....

Wrong! Whether I failed/lagged or was too close to one of the campers when I jumped through I don't know. I selected my warp to target then  my cloak broke after I activated it. Instantly locked an popped, I was amazed to get the Pod out tbh.

So I turned around and went to Dodixie to replace my Covops in exchange for 30m iskies. This time I headed back to low-sec via a different route! Safely!

Anyway, back to Kirith. After my prober shenanigans are done I undock in a Drake, Adirain is busy but little in space. A Sentinel, Rifter, Thrasher, Arbitrator, Tristan are all in system at different times but I fail to nuke any of them.

The arbitrator warps away as I land with him. the Tristan swiftly pulls range, picks on a Warrior II and then warps off in armour. The Thrasher pulls range as I attack him on station and escapes.

Other notable(ish) events in Adirain were being yellow boxed by a neutral Hurricane on the high-sec gate until he got bored and jumped out as BC vs BC with gate guns on their side isn't a fight I'd choose! And I blew up a Covetor and his Pod.

I eventually decided to return to Hevrice to downsize ship. On my way one system out I cross jumped an 8 man gang coming the other way. Lucky timing! Docking up I switched to a Thrasher as another small gang jumped into Hevrice.

Undocking I warped to a watch point on the Jov gate to get eyes on their fleet and fed back their fleet composition over vent as Sulei had formed a BC fleet to counterattack. The gang jumped from Hev to Jov and then on into Aeschee. In Aeschee the two enemy gangs engaged each other. Sulei put the Tusker gang in Jov on the Aeschee gate and jumped in to the two gangs. Meanwhile I was busy reshipping to a Drake and making my way to the Tusker fleet.

Sadly by the time I arrived the gangs were broken and had scattered and I missed out on the mails.

So, not the busiest or most explosive of evenings but it's good to be back.

Settling Back In

This weekend I've been online a fair bit both days whilst my girlfriend has been at work. I'm glad to say that I've gotten a few shots off in anger this weekend, which has been very satisfying and helps in blowing away some cobwebs. I really need to rid myself of the newbie nerves and as much as the adrenaline high is and was a great thing, the last thing I need right now is anything to distract me from performing at optimal.

I'm not sure if it's me or the times at which I have been online, but the space lanes have been very quiet with few potential targets to be had. I have managed to probe down a few vessels but they were very alert and either warped out as I arrived on scene or cloaked up.

Saturday was the more lively day for me, even though it commenced with me getting bored enough to get GCC for popping a Velator & Pod on the high-sec gate in Hevrice. In the afternoon a bunch of us formed up in BC's to spoil a triple battleship group running a site in a nearby wormhole, though sadly they had left by the time we were ready. Deciding against wasting the small gang if BC's we took a short jaunt towards Intaki managing to catch this Hurricane on the way out, and this Arbitrator on the way back.

Sunday was a much quieter day, albeit the day which I managed to probe down some nice targets I only managed to lay waste to a ratting Caracal. There was an afk Hyperion, again on a high-sec gate who unfortunately woke up while we were bumping him off gate.

Hopefully next time I immerse myself I'll see some more action. I've decided against going for a Heavy Interdictor for the time being, sticking with some of my existing plans for now.

Having undocked and flown my Drake & Canes around over the weekend I feel that I'm getting a nice feel for them and am enjoying them. I was a bit disappointed with my Drakes tank against sentry guns, expecting it to be rather uber. I'll be looking to create a better fit for this purpose.

Time for my dinner, so I'll speak to ya'll again soon.

The Wolf

I've been able to fly Minmatar Assault Ships for a couple of months or so now, first I tried the Jaguar and was left dissappointed. Second I tried the Wolf, and again was left feeling dissappointed.

I would really like to love flying these ships but somehow they just don't do it for me. My most fundamental reason for the dislike stems from the lack of the Rifter hulls tracking bonus. Throw that on them and they would go up no-end in my estimations. However, they are what they are unless CCP changes them.

I have lost three Wolves thus far I think, two of them them against possibly the worst type of ship for them to fight against, Arbitrator & Pilgrim. The other I lost trying to solo a Drake. Typing those sentences makes me realise that perhaps my expectations of this Frigate hull have been perhaps rather high!

I have only been running a single fit on my Wolf thus far, which is as follows:

[Wolf, KD: 125mm & rep]

4x 125mm Gatling AutoCannon II (Republic Fleet EMP S)
Rocket Launcher II (Foxfire Rage Rocket)

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Fleeting Progressive Warp Scrambler I

Damage Control II
Small Armor Repairer II
Gyrostabilizer II
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I

Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Small Projectile Burst Aerator I

My skills:
8560 EHP
860 m/s
227 dps
Runs the rep for around a minute

I am determined to keep testing Assault ships as I really do want to like them, perhaps the changes in Tyrannis to insurance will make this mission a bit easier on the wallet.

Tuskers kill another Carrier

Yes, earlier this week the Tuskers killed another Carrier, this time a Thanatos was brought low by The Tuskers.

I was minding my own business in Hulmate after having tried and failed to take out an Arbitrator in my Rifter, kudos to the Arbi pilot for having a nasty setup to take on my Rifter with along with a flock of horrible Warrior II's. Following a recent small gang roam I was the only one left in a Vent sub channel when Proxxxy came into the channel, stated that they had a Carrier tackled in Muetralle and told me to haul ass and come in the biggest ship I had.

Not needing to be told twice I shot from the system, running the fearsome game guns with my GCC, I had one dicey moment in Jovainnon where I took two volleys from the sentries but otherwise made it to rendezvous with the fleet. Given that I was at the time in my biggest ship (Rifter) I didn't need to stop off in Hevrice to reship. First order of the day for Tacklers was hold point on the Thanatos and take out drones whilst doing so. His drones & fighters fell swiftly each time they were launched. I had to warp out once when I had a viscious swarm of 13 Hornet II's after me.

The fight was fairly plain sailing and was nowhere near the difficulty of killing the Archon a week or two earlier and so it wasn't long before the mighty Capital ship was destroyed. The pilot, after messing about with ransom attempts refused to pay and was summarily despatched. Looking at the fit I do wonder why he had three sensor boosters fitted, any ideas?